#regifted

Whirl calls on Kup, a now high up military buddy and one of the few people who has Whirl's respect, for help.

He successfully works out a protection deal and attempts to deliver Rung to Kup, but is interrupted as Lockdown has reported back that Rung is alive to the Functionalists and they're pissed about his Not Dead status, giving chase.

Rung immediately questions why Whirl flipped so fast when finding out Rung was a mob slave, and also, why two of the Functionalists' best enforcers are now on their tail, as Rung himself isn't worth sending them both in.

(also x3, why Whirl has military contacts who are not only willing to hear him out but are offering top of the line protection deals for mob mechs.)

Whirl debates ducking and dodging the answer as he normally would, but is oddly compelled to give the truth: the military forced him into going undercover with the mob.

He was exposed almost immediately, which everyone involved knew would happen, as the assignment was a barely disguised punishment for Whirl previously defying illegal military orders.

They did not expect Whirl to survive the mission.

That gave him space to work out a deal with the Functionalists, who let him live as long as he defected, completed their "testing" period, and provided them with inside information (Whirl mentions offhand that he feels his survival was more as a way for the Family to thumb their noses at the military in a sort of 'neener-neener we stole your mech' situation but he's not complaining.)

Whirl correctly identifies Rung as someone who has the intel and knowledge to make a large impact on this entire fucked up situation, if given to the right, trustworthy person. He also sees Rung as an oppertunity to stick it to the assholes who tried to kill him in the military, and in a leap of faith, puts both their lives in Kup's hands.

They successfully make it to Kup, and end up living in witness protection together, with Rung asking for Whirl as his live in bodyguard and the military not knowing wtf else to do with him agreeing.